It is well known that various birds such as parakeets, parrots, cockatiels, canaries and mynahs make excellent pets, many of which are comfortable living in a cage. Parakeets and small parrots become entertaining and affectionate pets. Canaries are valued for their looks and singing ability. The mynah and african grey are wonderful mimics, both of sound effects and the human voice.
Common to these birds is their ability to perch despite various body structures. For instance the parrot, being a member of the psittacine family, has a foot common trait of two toes that stick out in front and two toes that stick out behind. Parrots use their feet like hands to hold food, pick up objects or climb along branches. Their feet design permit standing on circular objects such as tree limbs without effort. In addition, parrots can use their beak as a third hand. Climbing, it uses its beak as a hook securing it to a higher surface and pulling its body up behind. Descending, a parrot leans down, presses its beak onto a lower surface to stabilize itself, then climbs down one foot at a time.
The mynah bird, a member of the passerine family, has a common trait of three toes that stick out in front and one toe that sticks out behind. When a passerine stands on a tree limb, the weight of its body pulls the ligaments of the toes tight thus closing the toes around the limb. Because the tightening does not require a conscious muscular grip, the toes stay tightly curled around the limb even when the bird is fast asleep. For these reasons, prior art teaches tree like structures providing the bird with a means for perching while indoors.
Common to all birds is the need for exercise to stay healthy and to enhance their personality. When kept indoors, medium and large birds such as African Greys and Cockatiels are typically left without a cage but their flight is inhibited making them rely upon other means for exercise. Thus, the design of their perch becomes critical not only to their comfort but as their sole means for exercise. For instance, while small birds may be able to fly from perch to perch for exercise, mynahs are too large to fly indoors but gather sufficient exercise by jumping from perch to perch. Large parrots jump and climb among the perches.
The ideal bird playgym includes multiple perch levels which allow the bird to climb or fly providing both a comfortable area in which to perch and sufficient area in which to exercise. Horizontal levels allow the bird to jump and flex their wings. Swings should be included for entertainment and chew toys for beak strengthening. Long perches provide walkways. A large catch basin is necessary for sanitary purposes. The basin should be secured to the playgym to provide a stationary structure. Finally, a need exists to place at least a portion of the structure upwards of five feet in the air providing the bird with a sensation of safety from other pets and an uninterrupted view of the room.
The problem with perches of the prior art is the lack of exercise area formed in conjunction with the perch making the demands for an ideal playgym a large and awkward structure that cannot be moved or otherwise stored without extensive disassembly and reassembly.
Thus, what is lacking in the art is an apparatus that will accommodate house kept birds providing both an exercise or playgym, a comfortable perch, and a catch basin all of which can be easily stored or otherwise transported from one location to another using a self-contained carrying case.